After 350,000 signatures in an EU consumer rights campaign, Ubisoft is adding offline modes to The Crew games - but not the now-dead original

Ubisoft faces backlash for shutting down servers for The Crew, leading to a consumer rights campaign seeking 1 million EU signatures and prompting the developer to add offline modes to newer games, but not the original.

Earlier this year, Ubisoft shut down the servers for The Crew, leaving the always-online racing game completely unplayable even to those who'd already bought it. The backlash to this decision has spawned a massive consumer rights campaign that's now seeking 1 million signatures in the EU, and in the wake of that response, the devs are adding offline modes to newer The Crew games - but not the now-dead original.

"We heard your concerns about access to The Crew games," Ubisoft says in a message on social media. "Today, we want to express our commitment to the future of The Crew 2 and The Crew Motorfest. We can confirm an offline mode to ensure long term access to both titles, stay tuned for more news in the next months."

This all comes in the wake of the Stop Killing Games initiative, a consumer rights campaign that's been reaching out to global lawmakers in hopes of prohibiting publishers from completely revoking access to games players have already purchased. The campaign's latest effort is a European Citizens' Initiative, which in short allows issues that have reached a certain level of support across the EU to be presented directly to lawmakers. This ECI has reached 348,502 of the 1 million signatures required for it to move forward. 

I don't want to get my hopes up, but I'm hoping this is in response to which way the wind is blowing on consumer agencies in multiple countries investigating the legality of disabling The Crew 1 sold as a one-time purchase with no expiration date.September 10, 2024

Ubisoft hasn't directly addressed that campaign here - and importantly, they're still not bringing back a playable version of the original Crew - but the "concerns" the company cites are certainly tied up with this whole campaign. "I don't want to get my hopes up," YouTuber Ross Scott, who has spearheaded the Stop Killing Games effort, says on Twitter, "but I'm hoping this is in response to which way the wind is blowing on consumer agencies in multiple countries investigating the legality of disabling The Crew 1 sold as a one-time purchase with no expiration date."

The ESA says its members won't support the one form of game preservation that might actually work.